Being a Role Model Is a Responsibility He Takes Seriously

by Steve Dolan

From the Editor: David House is Treasurer of the East
San Diego Chapter of the NFB of California. The following article appeared in
the August 31, 1999, edition of the Daily Californian.

As David House sits behind the desk of his office here,
he speaks about a vision he has as manager for House Properties. David would
like to see the company, owned by his father, Mike, continue to be among the
county's more successful commercial real estate operations.

What separates House's vision from his
competitors' is that he cannot see. He suffers from retinitis pigmentosa, an
inherited disorder characterized by a gradual degeneration of photoreceptor
cells and a progressive loss of vision.

Blind for half his life, House, forty-one,
doesn't allow blindness to limit him personally or professionally.

"I figure we all have crosses and
burdens to deal with," he said. "As with anything else, it's how well
you handle it mentally. I don't think blindness is most debilitating. If you
have a positive outlook and forge ahead, you'll be successful regardless of
what your handicap might be."

House leads a remarkably normal life.
He and Theresa, his wife of fifteen years, spent last week whitewater rafting
and horseback riding with their four children, seven to fourteen, in the Klamath
area near the Oregon border.

The eldest of five children, House was
diagnosed with RP at the age of five, when his parents took him to have his
eyes examined. They thought he needed glasses.

His next three siblings also suffer from
RP, but his youngest brother does not.

House's children are tested annually for
the disease, but none have shown signs of RP.

"You don't notice it each day,"
House said. "It's a slow process. As a kid I would sit close to the chalkboard.
As soon as I got to high school, I relied more on large print. With the heavy
work load in college I got cassette tapes, had someone read to me, and used
Braille."

House said he became aware of vision loss
while in high school. "As a senior in high school I went to the movies
with a couple of buddies and couldn't see the screen," he said. "I
could never see well enough to get a driver's license. As a teenage guy, that
was tough to deal with, but I overcame it."

At work House said he offsets his lack
of sight by using alternative techniques, such as one that makes use of the
telephone and a mini-cassette recorder.

When he completes a call, he transcribes
the information from his cassette into Braille to create a permanent record
he can consult later.

House said he figured out some time back
that he could get a ride to work each day if the maintenance truck were parked
at his home, where an employee picks it (and him) up each morning and delivers
them each night.

House, one of 100,000 people in the U.S.
suffering from RP, believes the disease has given him a special responsibility.

"There's such a negative stereotype
with the stigma of blindness that there needs to be a positive role-model to
show others that you can be happy and successful, even with blindness,"
he said.

"Believe it or not, the normal unemployment
rate for blind people is 70 percent. If you are working full-time, you almost
have a duty to help other blind people obtain gainful employment."

To that end House hosts a monthly meeting
of the National Federation of the Blind in his El Cajon office. Although the
group doesn't specifically place people in jobs, it leads them to agencies that
can help them gain employment.

Patty Klimczyk, a bookkeeper for the company,
said House is "just like any of us, pretty much. His attitude is good all
the time. I haven't really noticed that his blindness has handicapped him."

House said he does not believe blindness
is a factor.

"For the most part," he said,
"people focus on the business aspects [of their dealings with House]. If,
once in a blue moon, someone has a condescending attitude, it's advantageous
for me. I feel I have them beat right off the bat because they've underestimated
my situation. My blindness is not a problem in the business world."